We are still alive!

Hey all,
So sorry for the hiatus. We have just been too tired to post blogs since leaving Portland on Saturday July 3rd. We will hopefully start posting about those adventures today or tomorrow, so please stay tuned. As of today July 8th, we are back in Seattle and not ready to come home tomorrow.
Love
George and Johanna

The Historic Columbia River Highway and Food

Sadly we have found that there is not a lot for tourists to do in Portland, or at the least things are not as convenient here as they were in Seattle. Thus, we decided on taking one of the many scenic drives to be found in Oregon. The Historic Columbia River Highway began construction in 1913, is the first scenic highway in the U.S., and is considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the modern age. But we needed breakfast before we could venture on our trip.
We went to Pine State Biscuits, a place Johanna had seen on Food Network’s Diner’s, Drive-ins and Dives. George ordered The Reggie (fried chicken with bacon, cheese and sausage gravy on a biscuit. Johanna ordered the Flank Steak (steak lettuce tomato’s and bleu cheese dressing). And we ordered a biscuit with butter and honey. YUM!!! As with all our meals we shared back and forth. The Reggie was the far superior biscuit as far as the two sandwiches go. Because the restaurant was small and packed we took our food to go and ate it in the car.
Once we had finished our breakfast we took off toward the scenic byway. We actually only took half of the route because it took us 4 and a half hours to go less than 40 miles. Between the slow speed limits (switch backs and narrow roads) and stopping to hike to waterfalls, we actually thought we made pretty good time. We chuckled though when we made it to interstate 84 and found we were less than 40 miles outside Portland.
The weather started out in the morning pouring rain, but by the time we were leaving the hotel it had cleared up nicely. Our drive was, for the most part, clear and rain free, with a few drizzles towards the end. The scenic drive began in Troutdale (Mt. Hood Community College is located here). It’s a quaint little town, and one we could actually see ourselves in. The drive took us past scenic outlooks over the Columbia River and to gorgeous waterfalls that rushed down the mountainside. It is so vibrantly green with tons of wild flowers popping up everywhere…so beautiful.
By the time we passed Multnomah Falls, which is pretty much the halfway point of the scenic byway, we decided to head back to Portland for dinner. Our diner choice was another Diner’s, Drive-ins and Dives choice, a BBQ joint named, Podnah’s. We ordered a wedge salad, a small basket of rib tips, a brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich and a piece of pecan pie. The homemade bbq sauce, yeah…it had mole in it! SO YUMMY!!!!

Please Note:

Due to a long travel day and spotty internet access (our hotels wi-fi sucks) we just posted the last three days all tonight. So enjoy.
Love George and Johanna

Another Day in Portland

Yesterday our first stop was breakfast at the Tin Shed. George had come here last summer and raved about it. The food was good. He had hash browns covered with eggs, sausage, and bacon gravy with a side of bacon and a biscuit, while Johanna had a yogurt and fruit plate with biscuits and bacon gravy on the side. Our first adventure of the day started by going to Mill Ends Park. Mill Ends is the world’s smallest park, measuring 24 inches in diameter. It was created in 1948 by Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, and was based on his column, entitled “Mill Ends,” and is home to Patrick O’Toole, a leprechaun.

We then walked the waterfront area taking pictures of bridges, water fountains, and other items that caught our fancy: a memorial to the U.S.S. Oregon, commemorating its service to the United States in various wars, and a water park, strategically placed in front of the municipal sewage pumping plant, to name a couple; we stumbled upon a memorial reflecting the emotional history of Japanese interment during World War II; there was the statue of Portlandia the world’s second largest copper repousse statue in the United States (the first being the statue of Liberty); we enjoyed a coffee in the rain at Pioneer Square; we visited the Portland Courthouse, which is the second oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi still in operation; and we also walked through Lownsdale and Chapman Parks. These two parks, with a street separating them, had originally been created to segregate the sexes.

On our way back to our car we saw a sign for indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. We figured, “what the hell, it’s raining anyways.” It was quite entertaining and a nice way to kill some time before going to dinner.

As George has been craving Chinese food for days we decided to head to Portland’s Chinatown. Our restaurant of choice? The House of Louie…yeah, we chuckled at that. The food was decently good, though.

In sum, this was a good and somewhat eventful day, despite the rain and overcast weather.

Love,
George and Johanna

Portland Explorations

Hello,

Wednesday was gorgeous here in Portland. Our first stop was the International Rose Test Garden: 4.5 Acres of roses in a multitude of colors and sizes. As you walked around the corner into the park you are delightfully surrounded by the scent of roses. It was beautiful and serene. We walked around and took quite a number of pictures.

We then visited the grounds at Pittock Mansion. The Mansion was commissioned by Henry and Georgiana Pittock, who moved into it in 1914. The couple is well known for their community service. Henry took over ownership of the weekly Oregonian newspaper in the 1860’s and was involved in banking, real estate, railroads, steamboats, ranching, mining and the paper industry.

Johanna was craving a deli sandwich and so we went in search of a deli. A quick search of the AAA tour book listed Elephant’s Delicatessen. Having noted seeing someone at the rose garden with a picnic lunch from there we decided to give it a try. What a delightful surprise (and that’s an understatement)! It was, to date, the BEST meal we have had during our trip (and unequivocally one of the best meals we’ve both ever eaten). It is difficult to equate the deli to anything we have at home. You can get all kinds of fresh breads, baked goodies, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, cheeses, beverages and oh so much more. Think of it as a Trader Joe’s or Henry’s except that the majority of items are prepared foods. We could not decide on just one item and so got a little of this and that. We ordered a turkey club on homemade wheat, broccoli salad, tomato and cucumber salad, capresse pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, bistro burgers (sliders with grilled onions and bleu cheese), vanilla crème brulee and a local brew. We cannot even begin to describe how wonderful this lunch was! Johanna made George promise to go back on our way out of town (mostly because eating there for every meal would not be conducive to getting to know Portland) to pick up some goodies to eat on the way to Grant’s Pass.

Our next stop was Powell’s City of Books. If you have any sort of love affair with books, then this bookstore is your Nirvana. Imagine a three-to-four story Costco full of nothing but books and magazines, that sells both new and used, mixed-in together on the shelves. The store is organized by color, number, and subject, and is so big it offers maps to get around. You will find history books in the Purple Room (each room could be a bookstore on its own, literally), literature is in the Blue Room and novels are in the Gold room and Coffee Room (this is not even half the rooms). And yes we each bought a couple of books!

After Powell’s we walked down to Voodoo Doughnuts, but the line was long and our parking was about to expire. So we walked back to the car and drove to Voodoo Doughnuts Too across the river. We ordered a Voodoo Dozen, which consists of 13 doughnuts that are selected for you. The doughnuts were good (not great) but their uniqueness makes them worth the try.

Because the day before had been so long we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Our hotel offers a free evening reception where you can get a free beer, wine or soda and munchies. We each enjoyed a pint of beer and shared a plate of veggies with dip. We fell asleep watching Planet 51…

Love,
George and Johanna

From Olympia to Portland

Hello All,
Tuesday was a long, but enjoyable day. We left Olympia at 11am and did not get to our hotel until after 10pm. By the time we unloaded and got ready for bed it was midnight. So what did we all see yesterday? Well, before we could leave the Olympia area we had to go back to Tumwater Falls and take a picture of the Crosby House (as in Bing Crosby, this was his grandparents house).
The original plan, when we decided to take this trip, was to just sail down Interstate 5 the whole way to Portland and be there in four hours. That didn’t happen, as four hours turned into ten hours. We decided, on the fly, to take the scenic route and come down the 101. This required us to drive out to the 101 and then back to the 5 in Portland. It was a beautiful day to do so: the sun was shinning and the forests areas were bright green!
The most exciting part of the day was driving into Astoria, Oregon. It’s such a magnificent little town with a cool culture and rich history. The scenery and environment is very English seaboard picturesque.
While in Astoria we ate at Rogue Ales Public House, located on the Columbia River (Yes! I said ON the river, literally! We had to drive over a wooden bridge at 5mph onto Pier 39. So cool!). At Rogue, we ordered two beers (Dead Guy and Mom’s ½ Weizen), pizza, a burger, and onion rings. So good!
After eating, we drove up to the Astoria Column with a brief visit to the house from Goonies. Yes, Johanna is a nerd too. The Astoria Column was amazing: from the construction to the artwork to the view it provides at the top, it was absolutely beautiful.
We then drove to Fort Clatsop but we did not make it there until 7:30pm, and the park closed at 6pm. We found a hiking trail that had not been closed (because it closed at dusk, but we did not realize it until we returned to the parking lot. Yeah, we thought we were adventurously dissenting…) and decided to see if we could walk to the Lew and Clark Fort. After a half-hour of walking on this trail, we decided to turn back. We never saw the fort. So bummed : - (
The rest of the time was spent getting to Portland taking highway 26 to the 405 and then the 5. It was a beautiful drive, and in the future we know that we want to drive down the 101 instead of coming inland. Oxford Suites at 10pm is where our day ended. We were so tired from the long day that we crashed pretty fast. BUT, we got a lot of great pictures of nature and saw lots of historical sites! All in all, it was a great day.
Love,
George and Johanna

Olympia

Good Morning All!

Monday we explored the Olympia area. We had to go kind of far and wide, because…well…there isn’t much to do in Olympia when you are here on Monday and Tuesday (the Farmer’s Market runs Thursday-Sunday). In fact, there isn’t much to do here in Olympia, period. We drove over to the Tumwater area to visit the Tumwater Falls, though! It was beautiful and peaceful. There, we had lunch at the Terrace Restaurant, which overlooks the falls. We ate deep fried avocado with bleu cheese dressing (so surprisingly good we can’t believe we havn’t stumbled upon this delicacy before) and a burger dip (like a French dip but with hamburger). We then drove out to the Mima Mounds. This is an area were there is a bunch of seven-foot-high mounds of earth that scientist can still not explain their origins or existence. More interesting were the beautiful flowers growing all around the area. And more interesting, or maybe frightening, were the drunken couple that flew (literally) up the one lane road to the site behind us in a giant Ford truck. The deliverance song popped in our heads, George even began mouthing it. The couple jumped out of their truck and followed us fast up the trail and asked, “Where are you from?” George was ready to fight to the death! But it turned out they were just drunk (did I mention they were drunk?) and wanted to lay down on the information dome. Go figure.

After the mounds experience and the drunken couple trauma, we decided to take a drive out to the coast. While most of what we saw was depressing, as the towns were small and obviously economically impoverished, we did stumble upon a jewel of a store in Aberdeen, WA: Sucher and Sons Star Wars Shop! This store was started when the owner wanted to find something to keep his pre-teen sons occupied one summer and it sort of took off from there. It was full of everything Star Wars you could imagine from the original toys and comic books to pizza boxes and soda cans. Honestly if you’re looking for anything, and I mean anything, Star Wars this would be the one-stop-shop to find it. George spent his entire time taking pictures of everything, while I reminisced about the original Millennium Falcon that was exactly like the one Ken and I had. Of course, I couldn’t leave the store without Chewbacca and Yoda miniature action figures…for sentimental reasons. The owner was entertaining and informative. He also had an awesome tattoo of Princess Lea on his left deltoid, underneath which he had Carrie Fisher’s tattooed-over signature. Yes, he had that signature tattooed over so he permanently has her signature on his arm as well.

We returned to Olympia and after resting in our room for about an hour, we went to dinner. We ended up at La Taqueria, as I had a craving for Mexican food. George wanted Asian food, but he capitulated to his ethnic roots and my desire ;-)p How was La Taqueria, you ask? Well, our first clue that this might not be up to our Southern San Diego standards was the fact that our waiter kept calling us “amigos”. George wanted to punch him the throat after the fourth “amigos”. But then the chips and salsa came, which seemed pretty authentic. So, we ordered. I was in the mood for tacos, I ordered the taco combination and George got the chimichanga. Yeah, well…I ended up getting something akin to Taco Bell tacos: powdered ground beef and processed hard-shells. George’s dish was a little more authentically made, but the taste was super-sub-par, and somehow neither of these indiscretions stopped us from eating (even finishing our plates) and paying with upset tummies (you don’t wanna know what happened) the rest of the night.

So, without further adieux: goodbye Olympia! Hello Portland! We still miss Seattle :-(

Love Johanna and George.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Seattle :-( However, before we left, we made it a point to stop at Top Pot and get some doughnuts. Thanks Ken and Nik! So good! But it took almost a freakin’ hour to get them! Yeah, after leaving our hotel, it took us that long to get some doughnuts, because Seattle was celebrating “Gay Pride” and we ended up on the wrong side of 4^th street, which meant we had to drive in a big circle around downtown in major traffic. But, we finally made it to Top Pot and the doughnuts were awesome.

Before we could leave Seattle completely behind, however, we had to make a stop in Fremont (an eclectic artistic community) in order to get a picture of the authentic Cold War-era V.I. Lenin statue imported from Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia). George insisted that he get to take a picture with his “great-great-grandfather”, fists in the air, chin up, and all. :-) Yes, he is that much of a Dork!

Coincidentally, Sunday’s just so happen to be Farmer’s Market Day in Fremont too, and so we enjoyed walking around, looking at all the neat things that were for sale. George had a fresh falafel sandwich and I had street tacos; they were good.

We made it to Olympia around 6pm and stopped at the capitol buildings to take pictures before checking in at Fertile Grounds, our bed & breakfast. When we arrived at the bed & breakfast we were a little worried because it lacked curb appeal, but it is nice and clean inside, the owner is wonderfully sweet, and Amy Goodman (the host of “Democracy Now!”) stayed here. We enjoyed dinner at the Urban Onion, where we ordered bleu cheese French Fries, a California Burger, and Smothered Chicken (chicken and pasta smothered in a creamy pesto sauce). Yummy! Yummy! Nitey nite.

-Love George and Johanna

"The Bowl" if you buy a Theo bar with any mix ins, it has gone through this bowl.

Good Morning Everyone!

So our day began early yesterday morning, as we had to be at the Chocolate Box by 8:30. Since we spent the first couple of days sleeping in until 8 am, having to leave our hotel that early was a bit rough, but totally worth it! The first thing they gave us was hot chocolate (REAL hot chocolate, not the crappy powdered stuff). The tour is both informative (we learned quite a bit about how chocolate is made and about the industry itself) and tasty (we got to eat a lot of chocolate). The couple that owns the Chocolate Box also owns Simply Seattle (a souvenir shop) and 106 Pine (a wine shop next door to the Chocolate Box; they also do wine tours, which we have added to our list of things to do on the next trip). Our tour guide was fabulous, although George did have to correct him about Pantera being thrash, and not death, metal (there is a stern difference, and apparently death metal is crap). On the tour, we went to three different chocolate shops in the Seattle area. The first stop was Theo’s (the only certified organic and certified free- trade chocolate producer in the United States. Theo’s is also one of the only bean-to-bar shops—meaning, it is both a roaster and melter. The chocolate plant uses old German (40s-50s) machinery to roast the beans and make chocolate. Theo’s also makes some very unusual flavors, like Buttered Bread Chocolate (which was good, with the salty sweet combo) and Coconut Curry (which we did not care for because of the curry...in fact, on a personal level, it was pretty nasty and the after taste was difficult to kick). Our next stop was O’s Chocolate, where we “learned” (they really did not teach us anything) how to hand temper chocolate. I was not fond of the process as far as results go, but it was sure fun to work with the chocolate! Our third stop was at Fran’s. If the name is familiar to you, it might be because President Obama was asked in an interview what his favorite chocolates were and he responded, “Fran’s smoked salt chocolate caramel.” Yeah, for nostalgic (and apparently geeky historical purposes) George hasn’t eaten his free sample yet. Dork! The tour ended at106 Pine (the wine shop), where we were given iced hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream! Yum! All in all, the tour was completely worth the early wake up!

For lunch, we went across the street to Zaina, where we had probably the best Gyro’s ever! After, we walked down the hill to the Seattle Aquarium, where we got to see all kinds of local marine life. While they have less jellyfish than the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (and no white shark) it was definitely on par. We got to go to the dome under the Puget Sound, just in time for afternoon feeding! That was pretty cool!

In the evening, we drove around and ended up in the International District for dinner. We ate at the food court, definitely not our best meal. I take the blame, or at least George is making me L After dinner, we drove through downtown (almost up and down every street for a last look) and the waterfront again. We are sad to be leaving Seattle, as we both really like it here, but we are excited to see other places. And, we know we will definitely travel back here to do all the things we have missed.

Love,

George and Johanna

Again for more pictures look on facebook! :-)

Ballard Locks and UW!

Hey All! Since our chocolate tour was rescheduled to tomorrow(Saturday) morning, today was our free-roaming day! And, since we walked over five miles yesterday, we decided to do a lot more driving today. But, we still walked quite a bit.

To begin with, we stopped at Seattle’s first public school, West Queen Anne Public School, which has now been renovated into condos. Go figure.

After, we went to Ballard Locks and checked out the flower garden and fish ladder. Beautiful and awesome!

Next, we stopped at a nearby marina to have a car-picnic lunch; quaint and sentimental.

After filling our bellies with cheese, bread, chips, cherries, beer, and chex mix we stopped at Golden Gate Park which reminded us a little bit of the Mission Bay area, only smaller. There we found a swamp area with ducks and turtles. We then stopped at Café Fiore, an organic coffee house, to satisfy our mutual sweet tooth with hot chocolate and latte.

Then, we visited the University of Washington! Took some pictures, albeit not a lot (but made sure to get one of a pacifist Methodist church that condemned torture and war via large banners…damn LIBERALS…we just wouldn’t fit in up here) , and bought some souvenirs from the bookstore. (Oh! And we checked out the new IPads on the tech. floor…yeah, freakin’ awesome! Want one!)

Finally, we drove through Mercer Island, which is kind of like Pebble Beach with smaller houses. It was secluded, serene, and eye-catching…seems like a wonderful place to live, but too expensive L

All in all, we had a great sandbox day: good environments, pictures, food, and great company (as always).

‘Till tomorrow!

Love,

George and Johanna

Marina

Bench at Golden Gate Park
University of Washington
Lake Washington swimming hole on Mercer Island

Space Needle and Pioneer Square

Good Morning All!
Yesterday we went to the Space Needle and Pioneer Square.
Since our hotel is relatively close to the Space Needle we enjoyed a morning walk to it. Because we needed post card stamps we walked to the post office and then came through the cultural center park area to the needle. It was a delightful surprise to walk around a corner and come face to face with a water fountain play area.
The view from the needle was beautiful. We spent a lot of time walking around and taking photos. By time we got back to the hotel we were ready to go in search of lunch. We decided to drive down to Pioneer Square, have lunch, and go on the Underground Tour. What we did not know at the time was that there was a Mariners game in progress. Unlike San Diego (which is an area we are familiar with) we could not find any decent parking. And, we were shocked at the mark-up of parking garages—one was asking $30, and it was practically full. After driving around for an hour and a half, and getting snippy with each other, we decided to return to the hotel and find public transportation.
Our hotel has a shuttle for $2 a person (which we did not know until we asked) and they happily drove us down to Pioneer Square. We had lunch at the newly reopened J&M Café and Cardroom. We enjoyed a cheese plate appetizer, a BLT&A sandwich, a Grinder sandwich, and some drinks. We were scheduled for a 6 pm tour of Seattle’s Underground so we had some time to kill after eating our late lunch. We walked around the neighborhood and stumbled across some posted fallout shelters. The Underground Tour was great and we definitely recommend it. It was fascinating to learn the history of Seattle’s underground. The fact that Pioneer Square is completely supported by Cedar beams is a little astonishing and slightly frightening. ☺
After the tour, we decided to walk down to the Waterfront, have ice cream for dinner, and visit some of the shops. We had intended to catch the free bus to get closer to our hotel, but we were enjoying the weather and instead decided to walk down to the Olympic Sculpture Garden. By this time it was already 9pm and we were only a few blocks away from the Space Needle so we walked to it and went up for the night view. Finally, we walked back to the hotel. All in all, we walked over 5 miles during this adventure. Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to the hotel just before 11pm. What a wonderful day.

Love,
George and Johanna

P.S. the link in the comments section will/should take you to more photos on Facebook.